Life in a Humpback

Day 98: Perth to Dwellingup

Today we packed up and said goodbye to the shelducks, the coots and their chicks, and the moorhens that live in the caravan park lake. At least two of the chicks hatched during our stay. It has been nice to listen to the birds and frog calls from the lake at night.

Our first stop for the day was in Mandurah to see the wooden giants that are scattered across the city. We only made it to two - Yaburgurt Winjan Cirkelstone and Santi Ikto. We tried to get to a third (Seba's Song) but it was hard to find a nearby park for the caravan. The two we saw were very impressive - John now wants one for our block of land back in Tassie!

Our final stop for the day was Dwellingup. We arrived at the Dwellingup Chalets and Caravan Park before lunch and then had a wander through the township. The town is a bit like Derby back home as it has set itself up as an adventure destination. It has a few mountain biking areas, but also has bush walking tracks, and areas for kayaking, canoeing, and rafting. The town in one of the few places that the Munda Biddi bike trail and the Bibbulmun walking tracks cross over - both of which stretch from Perth to Albany and are around 1000km each.

Day 97: Perth (Day 4: Olivia)

Today we went to the Aquarium! But when we got there I got a headache!! So me and Dad went back to the caravan while Mum and Theo did the aquarium. I'm not sure what Mum and Theo did but I just stayed in bed. I was feeling a lot better when we went to pick Mum and Theo up so we all went to look around again. Theo had gotten a hammerhead shark plush toy that he has been wanting for awhile from the gift shop, he named it Pickle.

My favourite place was the touch tank, I touched a Port Jackson shark, but I couldn't reach the bamboo shark. I also picked up a starfish! We also went on this moving pathway that went around and under a big tank with lots of sharks, fish, coral, and rays. We even saw a turtle! We also saw more coral and fish at the marina and other rooms. At the end I got an adorable, soft, big-ish... axolotl! I named her Bella, she looks very good in Dad's sunglasses.

Day 97: Perth (Day 4: Theo)

Today we went to the Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA). When we got to the car park, Olivia did not feel well so she went home. At the Aquarium me and Mum went on a conveyor belt, which was a moving platform that took us under a big aquarium tank. We did two laps of the conveyor belt through the tank. We saw lots of sharks, fish, and rays. There was also a turtle. When we got out we saw a massive crab. Later we went to a room that had the most deadly sea animals - it was cool. Then we went to the touch tank were I touched a Port Jackson shark and a bamboo shark. After we went to the gift shop were Mum let me buy a hammerhead shark stuffed toy, which I named Pickle.

When we were waiting for Dad to pick us up we did one more lap of the conveyor belt. When Dad got there, Olivia was there too, but she was feeling better so we went back into the aquarium and did it all again but this time with Dad and Olivia.

Day 96: Perth (Day 3)

Today we went on a train to the Fremantle kids bookshop. At the bookshop me and Theo both got a book for getting to 100 nights of reading in term 1 & 2. I got a book called Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens and Theo got a book called Asterix and the Golden Sickle

Then we got a drink and went to Fox in a Box also in Fremantle to do an escape room. We did the escape room Mastermind: A Heist Story. We nearly finished and probably would have finished with another 60 seconds (we were also trying to do the last puzzle a harder way... by accident). We sadly ran out of time. It was a great escape room and a fun day.

Day 95: Perth (Day 2)

Today we took a train to go to Nostalgia Box but there was a birthday party going on. So we had to wait until around 1pm until the birthday party was done. So we got back on the train to Optus Stadium where mini golf was. At mini golf we played 18 holes. It was fun. In the end Mum came 1! Dad came 2! Olivia came 3! and I came 4 🙁.

Then we took the train back to Nostalgia Box. Where we played a bunch of video games from the past including duck hunt, pong, wii sports, and others. Most of the games there were the well known older games. I beat dad in wii bowling then mum beat me in wii bowling by one point.

Then we took the train to Perth, then took another train to Warwick Station where our caravan park is. We the took the car to Scarborough Night Market, where we got dinner. We ate dinner. Then we went to the skate park where we tried to climb up the sides of it. Me and Olivia couldn't do it because it was really steep and slippery and we were wearing Crocs, but I could do it with Dad's help.

Then when we got back to the caravan park we played for "5 more minutes" on the bouncy pillow - which was more like 30 minutes before bed.

Day 94: Perth (Day 1)

Today we went to Scitech. There were so many cool things to play and interact with including, tunnels representing the brain that shot out bits of neon fabric that was representing thoughts, an earthquake simulator to build stuff on, a machine you used to move a mouse on a screen to the cheese, a chair that you could sit on and lift your own weight, and lots more! We even watched a show which involved a lot of blowing up.

Later we went to the Banksy museum to look at some of his art. Banksy is a mysterious street artist, whose art just appears out of nowhere!

Day 93: Cervantes to Perth

Today we packed up once again to head into Perth. On the way we stopped at Lancelin to go sand boarding on the white sand dunes. We picked up our rental boards and walked out and up the dunes. After a bit of work on technique we all manged to get a few runs down the dunes. The kids and John even managed a few runs standing up. Once we were all thoroughly covered in sand and our hour was up we headed into town for lunch before continuing to Perth.

In Perth we are stayed at Karrinyup Waters Resort located in the northern suburbs. The resort was the fanciest park we have stayed in yet. There is three pools, several playground, and jumping pillows - including one right across from our campsite. The kids had a swim in the pool, then a play in the playground with the pack of other kids until it was time to go out for dinner in the evening.